Former national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday said that while the ceasefire agreement with Russia is not in “Ukraine's interests,” Voldimee Zelensky, the president of the war-torn country, “had to agree” to the US framework after a disastrous oval office meeting with President Trump last month.
“Frankly, I don't think the ceasefire is becoming an interest in Ukraine,” Bolton told CNN's Wolf Blitz.
“I think Zelensky had to agree to a Saudi Arabia ceasefire because he needs to get US military aid, intelligence reporting support. He had to try and repair the damages from the elliptical office fiasco, so of course he agreed to that and reverted the military aid,” added Bolton.
US and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, emerged from consultations with Ukraine-backed proposals for a 30-day ceasefire. For the first time, the US has shifted pressure to Russia in pushing for a Trump ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the geopolitical ball is currently in the courts of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lawmakers expressed skepticism about Putin supporting the ceasefire, but Bolton said Putin would want to carefully consider his options.
“Well, I certainly didn't trust Russia to negotiate in good faith. Until now, Russians had no incentive to negotiate, as Donald Trump had effectively turned America's position in order to support Russia,” Bolton said.
“Now, after the meeting in Jeddah yesterday, President Putin wants to be careful not to lose what he has from Trump, so he will have to think about this quite carefully,” he added.
According to Bolton, Bolton said it would benefit Russia based on the frontline and on the frontline. He suggested that Putin might “in principle” agree to a ceasefire, but then prolonged his speech sorting the details.
“Sit in the meeting room somewhere and let me eat a ceasefire,” Bolton added. “It's another thing for people on earth to know exactly what it means, and negotiating the details can take quite a while if there are no parties who are willing to do it.”
